


Christmas Miracle

by FleetSparrow



Series: Story a Day in May 2019 [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Yule Goat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 12:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18738649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetSparrow/pseuds/FleetSparrow
Summary: Two brothers get a magical visit when staying for Christmas in Sweden.





	Christmas Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> Day six of SADIM. Prompt: Write in a genre you don't usually do.
> 
> I mean, I don't often write magical goat creatures, right? That counts, right??

Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Jaime wondered what he was doing here. Go-Pro strapped to his forehead, he scanned the woods for signs of life.

“Remind me why I agreed to this again?” he asked.

His older brother, Gabe, sighed. “Because you wanna get presents, too.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think this is right.”

“Chicken.”

Jaime frowned. “This just doesn’t feel like the kind of thing good kids do.”

Gabe rolled his eyes. “Look, we’re only gonna get this one chance. How many times have we spent Christmas in Sweden?”

“Never.”

“Exactly. This is the only time we can do this.” Gabe turned suddenly towards the forest. “Be quiet and look. I hear something.”

It was cold at night here, and suddenly the woods felt even colder. Jaime shivered, wishing he was back in the hotel room he shared with his brother, where his parents thought they were right now, instead of being outside in the frigid air. He could be watching Swedish TV and making up translations instead of watching the forest for signs of a myth. This was stupid and getting stupider every minute. There could be bears out there, or wolves, or anything!

Jaime pulled his coat tighter around him. “Let’s just go back.”

“Wait!” Gabe grabbed his arm. “I see something.”

Jaime stared, but couldn’t see a thing. And then, suddenly, he saw it. He had been looking for something horse-sized, something a man could ride on, but this was enormous. As tall as the trees around them, it stood in the shadows, the outline of it barely visible among the trunks. Jaime looked up as it walked forward, trying to see its head.

Gabe paled. “Run! It’s gonna eat us!”

Jaime stood there, petrified.

Slowly, the giant creature lowered its head, curved horns coming at the boys. Gabe grabbed Jaime’s arms, trying to pull him away, but it was as if he was rooted to the spot.

Jaime reached out a hand to touch the horns. They were made of straw. In fact, now that it was lower, he could see that the entire creature was made of straw.

“You’re the Yule Goat,” Jaime said, awestruck. He had meant to say something less obvious, but that was all his brain could manage.

The Yule Goat bleated, and it shook the trees around them. Behind Jaime, Gabe stared in horror.

It coughed, once, twice, three times, before spitting something on the ground. Two tiny straw yule goats stared up at Jaime. The Yule Goat bleated and then so did the two small ones. They began hopping around. One went up to Jaime and jumped at his shins, as if asking to be picked up. The other one skipped over to Gabe, trotting around his legs.

“Thank you,” Jaime said, holding his tiny goat.

The Yule Goat nodded and backed into the forest, disappearing into the shadows almost immediately.

Jaime turned around to see Gabe staring at where the Yule Goat used to be, the little one still trying to get his attention.

“Hey, Gabe. Snap out of it!”

Gabe shook his head, turning his gaze to Jaime and then the goat at his feet.

“Did that just happen?” he asked, his voice half an octave higher than usual. “Did that just…oh my god.”

“Yeah, it happened,” Jaime said, taking off the Go-Pro. “C’mon. We gotta get back.”

Gabe bent down and scooped up his goat, then followed Jaime back towards their hotel.

They had almost made it to their room when their parents’ door opened.

“Where have you two been?” their father said, blocking their path.

“Dad, we—” Gabe began.

“We went to get these,” Jaime said, holding up his tiny goat. The goats had stopped moving as soon as they had entered the hotel. “For Christmas presents. We got them for each other.”

Their mother sighed in relief. “You could’ve asked us. But I suppose you’re old enough to go out on your own. Just tell us next time, OK?”

“OK, Mom, Dad. We will,” Jaime said. He glanced over at Gabe, who still looked kind of pale.

“What’s wrong with you?” their dad asked.

“It was—”

“Really cold,” Jaime interrupted again. “Gabe’s jacket wasn’t as warm as we thought.”

Their dad looked at them suspiciously, but let it go. “All right. You boys go to bed. You’ll warm up soon enough.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

Jaime turned, catching Gabe’s arm and leading him into their room. Once they were securely inside, Jaime sighed.

“I thought you were gonna tell them,” he said.

“How can we not?” Gabe asked. “We caught it on film!”

Jaime looked at the Go-Pro. “C’mon, let’s check it out!”

They hooked up the camera to Jaime’s laptop and turned it on. There was film, all right. Film of the forest, of their voices, of themselves. But when it got to the part with the Yule Goat, there was nothing, just empty forest and sky. Even the tiny goats didn’t appear on the film.

They stared over at the little straw goats, who were once again prancing around, and looked at each other in awe.

“It didn’t show up.”

“They’re back,” Jaime said. “I guess only we can see them move.”

Gabe sat there quietly. “You know, maybe we didn’t do a good thing after all.”

Jaime touched his shoulder. “I think we did OK. I mean, we got presents.”

“That’s true,” Gabe relented. He looked out the window at the darkness of the town. “Merry Christmas, Jaime.”

Jaime looked at the goats and grinned. “Merry Christmas, Gabe.”


End file.
